Brustein, Robert (Sanford) (1927– )

US critic and theatre director. He founded the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1966. At Harvard he founded a resident professional training company, known as the American Repertory Theatre, supervising some 200 productions. He published an edition of the works of August Strindberg and several books on theatre and society, including Who Needs Theatre (1968) and Reimagining American Theatre (1991).

He was born in New York City, the son of a wool merchant, and educated at Amherst College and Columbia University. He gained his first reputation as a drama critic, primarily for The New Republic 1959–68. He was appointed dean of Yale Drama School in 1965 and professor of English at Harvard in 1979.